The field of the invention relates generally to administrative systems for institutional facilities, and more specifically to an electronic system for evaluating compliance of security patrol procedures for institutional facilities such as correctional facilities.
Various types of institutional facilities are known that house residents in a controlled environment. Such institutional facilities include, for example, correctional facilities such as prisons and jails, hospitals, convalescent homes, long term care facilities, nursing homes, psychiatric facilities, rehabilitation facilities and developmental disability facilities. Such institutional facility environments present security issues that often require security patrols performed by trained persons. Such security patrols are often referred to as “rounds” and are a standard operating procedure in many institutional environments. Each round involves at least one person who typically walks along a path, which may be predetermined, or that may be discretionary to the officer. The path may reside partially or wholly inside or outside one or more structures in the institutional facility. In other cases, at least one person may move wholly or partially along a path with the assistance of a vehicle. Regardless, the round is typically started at a first location, proceeds along a path, and ends at a second location, which may coincide with the starting location. As such, each round generally constitutes a loop, and as the person traverses the path from start to end the conditions along the path are assessed.
In the case of a correctional facility such as a jail or prison, multiple times each day one or officers specifically walks inside and around each building looking for potential damage or maintenance issues associated with the facility, potential escape routes or other alterations being made by inmates, persons that may be out of place or are not in an expected location, contraband, or other issues requiring attention. Ensuring that these rounds are being done timely, consistently and completely has been a perennial challenge to correctional facility administrators. While a number of systems and methods are known to track the completion of rounds in a correctional facility, improvements are desired.